Design, Fabrication and Manufacturing of 100 Ton Hydraulic Press to Perform Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP)

Abstract

-There are different mechanical presses used to deform or press the material through dies to convert into useful product by applying different conditions like temperature, pressure, speed of ram etc. These material deformation techniques not only used to produce finished products but also to increase the strength of the material by introducing severe plastic deformation. Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is a technique used to increase the strength of materials by introducing severe plastic deformation through grains refinement. The ECAP die consisting of two channels intersecting at 90 degree was designed and manufactured to perform angular extrusion. The load was calculated through mathematical modelling. A hydraulic press equipped with conventional temperature control furnace, sensor based limit switches, pressure controlled mechanism and with variable speed control was designed, fabricated and manufactured at UET Taxila. The material used for the fabrication purposes is mild steel. The major designing parameters included stroke length, maximum load, pressure, cylinder bore, sealing mechanism and volume flow rate of working fluid. The main parts of the hydraulic press consist of piston and cylinder arrangement, structure or frame, press stand and hydraulic circuit. The press was tested initially for its leakage and then test was performed on Teflon and Nylon materials at 2 tons of pressure. Later on the aerospace grade aluminum alloy 6061 was pressed through ECAP die at a speed of 9mm/sec.